File-swappers who distribute a single copy of a prerelease movie on the Internet can be imprisoned for up to three years, according to a bill that President Bush signed into law on Wednesday. The Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, approved by the House of Representatives last Tuesday, represents the entertainment industry’s latest attempt to thwart rampant piracy on file-swapping networks. Movies such as "Star Wars: Episode II," "Tomb Raider" and "The Hulk," have been spotted online before their theatrical releases. The law had drawn some controversy because it broadly says that anyone who has even one copy of an unreleased film, software program or music file in a shared folder could be subjected to prison terms and fines of up to three years. Penalties would apply regardless of whether that file was downloaded or not.

An Internet security expert told conference attendees Tuesday to use the term "cyberterrorism" properly–and played down the spread of government-sponsored hacking. Organizations are abusing the word by using it to fuel their budgets, Bruce Schneier said. Speaking at the Infosecurity Europe conference in London, the renowned author and cryptography expert called cyberterrorism a myth that has yet to become to a threat to human life.

America Online has temporarily dropped prices for its dial-up Internet service in an effort to stem the tide of customers switching to alternative services. The Time Warner company has cut the price of its unlimited dial-up service to $19.95 a month from $23.90 for new U.S. subscribers who sign up within the next few weeks. AOL is similarly lowering the price of its 10-hours-a-month dial-up service to $9.95 a month from $14.95 for a limited time.

The European Union’s executive has told Microsoft that it must comply immediately with a year-old order related to its Windows virtual monopoly or face action. EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer met on short notice late Tuesday at Microsoft’s request to discuss the tech giant’s failure to comply with a March 24, 2004, decision setting out steps that Microsoft must take.

For insight into how Microsoft plans to drive upgrades of its nearly ubiquitous Office desktop application suite, talk to Jean Paoli. While he doesn’t work in Microsoft’s Information Worker group, which oversees Office, Paoli does influence the development of the product. He’s a co-creator of the XML data formatting standard, and as the senior director of XML architecture at Microsoft, he’s involved with a wide range of products, including the development of Office 12 and the upcoming Longhorn edition of Windows.

Yahoo introduced a personal search feature Wednesday, expanding its drive to offer made-to-order online services to consumers and answering the release of similar tools by rival Google. The Internet giant said the beta, or test, version of My Web, available at the company’s site, was built using technology that first debuted in October with its search history product. The goal of the personalized tool is to let Yahoo users archive their search activity and results, and then share that information with other people if they choose to, the company said.

Security researchers have discovered an attack aimed at would-be visitors to Google.com, one that attempts to download malicious programs onto the computers of people who simply mistype the search giant’s Web address. According to security specialist F-Secure, unsuspecting Web surfers may be bombarded with various types of Trojan horse threats, spyware and backdoors when they go to "Googkle.com." The scheme is meant to take advantage of sloppy or hurried typists, given that on most keyboards the letter "k" key sits next to the "l" needed to type "Google."

An unpatched flaw in some versions of the Netscape browser could let an attacker into vulnerable systems, security company Secunia has warned. The vulnerability is "highly critical", according to an advisory released by the Danish company late Tuesday. Version 6.2.3 and 7.2 of Netscape are affected and other versions may also be susceptible, the company said. The flaw could allow a hacker to launch a buffer overflow attack, which could crash the browser or enable the attacker to execute code on the compromised system. A patch has not been created, according to Secunia.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates urged the Bush administration and lawmakers Wednesday to abolish immigration limits on foreign engineers who can be hired by U.S. companies, a sensitive subject among American technology workers watching their own jobs increasingly move overseas. During an infrequent visit to lobby personally for changes in federal policy, the world’s richest executive said the government should eliminate the limit of 65,000 for overseas workers who can be hired each year by American firms under specialty "H1-B" visas aimed at drawing engineers, scientists, architects and doctors to the United States.

Security researchers have discovered an attack aimed at would-be visitors to Google.com, one that attempts to download malicious programs onto the computers of people who simply mistype the search giant’s Web address. According to security specialist F-Secure, unsuspecting Web surfers may be bombarded with various types of Trojan horse threats, spyware and backdoors when they go to "Googkle.com." The scheme is meant to take advantage of sloppy or hurried typists, given that on most keyboards the letter "k" key sits next to the "l" needed to type "Google."